For years, Britain has been almost a laughing stock in the European Space Agency. The French, the Italians and the Germans all have their own space agencies. When I went to ESA and said I wanted to do the Beagle 2 mission, they just looked at me. They said, well who is going to pay for this? The British don't have an organisation.

The science minister, Lord Drayson, wants a space agency with muscle to organise the disparate group of ministers and organisations that invest in space. We don't know who will be in charge, but apparently it will be someone who can go to meetings and speak on behalf of the British space programme and that is what we need. We've not had that before. In the past, ministers couldn't agree on what to fund because they all had their own interests.

We have the space industry to thank for the agency. They haven't gone to the government cap in hand, they've been doing a good job and making money. It's a success story that has made it through to ministers. The agency is two decades late and it's crucial what happens in the next decade. But we are going in the right direction.

We finally have an organisation that speaks for everyone.

Colin Pillinger is professor of planetary science at the Open University and was head of the UK's Beagle 2 mission to Mars in 2003